Chapter 3: The Importance of the Word of God
The Church rises or falls on the Word of God. A community rises or falls on the Word of God. If the Word is spoken truthfully then God is glorified. The Word is so important to us. There are those who would twist the Word to make it say something God did not intend. They do this to make the Word seem more palatable and not offensive. The Word is at times offensive. Whether it is an easy passage of Scripture or a difficult it must be taught with authority of God and it must be obeyed.
God’s Word whether easy or hard is God’s wonderful grace given to us His people. That’s why we seek to be as biblical as possible and we seek to bring the Word of God to bear on our souls being empowered by the Holy Spirit to take us from where we used to be to where God would have us to be.
Those of us who are born again have been brought from death to life by the Word of God sent from God through the word of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit. As God said by speaking His Word, let there be life, so to He speaks by His Word into our dead hearts and Like Lazarus brought from death to life.
1 Peter 1:23 (ESV)
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
1 Thessalonians 2:13 (ESV)
13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
Philippians 2:16 (ESV)
16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
We have the written Word of God which is found in our Bibles. In the OT they did not have the final cannon of Scripture because God was still revealing Himself through His Word to His people. He did this most generally through the Prophet.
Abraham was the father of the nation of Israel. Moses was the Law-giver. Samuel was the beginning of the national prophetic office.
1. God’s Word Comes to God’s Prophet (3:1-10)
3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
4 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
6 And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
We see God’s grace at work. He is renewing the leadership in Israel. He is working to raise up a prophet and He is giving Samuel prophetic utterance. There is grace in the Prophet’s presence.
Israel will begin to have God’s Word and this is the beginning of that wonderful working. Remember, this is the time that followed the Book of Judges where there was no King and the people did what was right in their own eyes not what was right according to God. But God is gracious to His wayward people.
God’s judgement upon His people is about to be over with He is sending His Word to His people through His prophet Samuel.
Amos 8:11–12 (ESV)
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
but they shall not find it.
God gives His Word or God does not give it. Blest are the people who have God’s Word.
3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
God revealed Himself in visions and in audible ways through his chosen spokesmen. We see here that God’s interaction with His people was rare in those days.
God begins to speak…
9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”
Then God gives His young prophet his first task…Eli and his house are finished.
11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
2. Samuel, the Prophet Receives God’s Message (3:11-18)
Then God gives His young prophet his first task…Eli and his house are finished. Notice the tension the prophet endures. This is not a pleasant Word from God but it is a necessary Word from God.
11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
Samuel’s call, however, highlights the burden, pressure, conflict and pain of the Word of God—Dale Ralph Davis
Samuel is caught in the dilemma that only a true prophet of God knows. A true prophet recoils to speak judgement but must be faithful to the truth and what God has revealed.
If one has a high regard both for the truth of God (even in its judgement) and for the troubles of the Church, he will retain the proper tension in the biblical word; he will both afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. –Dale Ralph Davis
Can we feel the weight of God’s judgement on Eli and his house. No forgiveness and no repentance forever. This is an extremely fearful place. Eli did not do anything when his sons were sinning as priests.
3. Samuel, the Prophet Delivers God’s Message (3:15-18)
15 Samuel lay until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. 16 But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” 17 And Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.”
That is young Samuel’s first task as prophet…tell Eli what God has said.
Zechariah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, probably Ezekiel, Amos, and John the Baptist were all killed because they received a message from God to share with His sinful people calling them to repentance and shared the Word of God with them and the people turned and killed the prophet. Of course, Jesus Christ being the most relevant example of being murdered for speaking God’s Word.
Many OT Scholars estimate Samuel’s age at about 8 years old. What a task. Go tell Eli the priest that God is going to judge him and his house forever.
God helped young Samuel because Eli promised a curse if Samuel didn’t tell him everything that God said to him.
18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him.
Samuel is the father of the prophetic office. There were others like Moses who were called prophets but beginning with Samuel there would be a prophet in Israel until the Prophet like Moses, Jesus Christ came with John the Baptist being the last. For the first time since Moses, Israel had a national prophet for all of Israel.
God shows His grace to His people by sending them His Word through the prophet.
4. God’s Prophet Speaks God’s Words (3:19-21)
19 And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. 21 And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
Samuel grows up and God is with him. He becomes a mature prophet and God uses him greatly to deliver His Word to the people.
The office of Prophet is a type of the Lord Jesus who is the Prophet, Priest and King.
Deuteronomy 18:18–19 (ESV)
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
In the OT times God spoke to His people by means of a prophet but today He speaks to His people by His Son.
Hebrews 1:1–3 (ESV)
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
We have God’s Word given to us by Jesus and we find this Word in the Bible. God speaks to us through the written Word empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Just as it was extremely important for the people to listen to the Prophet in the OT and obey God’s warning or whatever He said, it is also just as important to obey God as we read in the Scripture His commands for us.
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